Sound-recording tablet.



No. "727,960; PATENTED MAY 12, 1903.

J. W. JONES.

SOUND RECORDING TABLET.

APPLIOATION FILED MAR. 27,1900.-

NO MODEL.

#1) Zn 6 .5; as.

UNITED STATES Patented May 12, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH W. JONES, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN GRAPHO- PHONE COMPANY, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, A CORPO- RATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

SOUND-RECORDING TABLET.

SPECIFIGATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 727,960, dated May 12, 1903.

Application filed March 27, 1900. Serial No. 10,367. (No specimens.)

T ail whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH W. JoNEs, of the city and State of New York,have invented new and useful Improvements in Sound-Recording Tablets, which are fully set forth in the following specification.

Sound-records of the type characterized by vertical irregularities corresponding to son udwaves (commonly known as graphophone to or phonograph records) are engraved in a wax-like material and may be employed directly for purposes of reproduction. Copies or duplicates are obtained from such originals by the Well-known mechanical process of duplicating by means of a duplicatingmachine. These duplicates also are engraved, and the material in which they are formed is no harder or more durable than the original recording material. The making of each such duplicate defaces the original more or less, so that the duplicates get poorer and poorer, while the original is soon worn down. On the other hand, sound-records characterized by lateral undulations (the type being commonlyknown as gramophone-records) are produced by tracing a line in a film deposited on a plate and are incapable of direct reproduction. At present the tracing so obtained is etched into the plate by an acid, and

from the grooved plate thus produced is obtained an electroplate for stamping out the commercial record. This method of producing commercial records has certain defects, so that the copies thus produced are not cor- 3 5 rect representations of the path of the recording stylus. In an earlier application (No.659,170, filed November 19, 1897) Ihave described an improved method of producing commercial records of this type which are 0 faithful copies of the original. This method consists, briefly, in making the original record-groove of full depth in the firstinstance, thus avoiding the necessity of etching, next coating the record with a conducting medium,

then electroplating, and finally pressing this electroplate matrix into the material to be stamped.

My present invention is broader, applying to records of both the types referred to and comprising the new sound-recording tablet 5o constituting the subject-matter claimed herein and the process claimed in divisional ap plication, Serial No. 113,327, filed January 26, 1902. Briefly stated, said process consists in making the original record-groove of full size in or upon a surface suitable for recording and which at the same time is itself an electrical conductor, then electroplating the record-surface, and finally using the matrix so obtained as a die or stamp.

To produce the new recording-tablet, I first take any substance that has sufficient body or cohesion to withstand the electroplating and retain its form, while at the same time it must be capable of receiving a recordthat is, be readily removable by the recording-stylus with as little resistance as possible. As the original record is not used for reproducing sounds directly, (as in case of graphophone-records,) it need not be near so hard as graphophone blanks. This material may be designated as wax-like, which term will be used in this application to indicate any plastic material suitable for the purpose that is of sufficient body without offering too 7 much resistance. This wax-like material is then prepared for use by impregnation with some electric conductor, hereinafter called simply a conductor. As an example, I may take ordinary beeswax and add a little rosin So to harden it slightly and then impregnate the mixture with graphite or other suitable conductor. As only that portion of the recording material which will be exposed to the action of the electric bath need be a conduct- 8 ing medium,the graphite (or other conductor) may be impregnated throughout the bulk or body of the material merely to a slight depth beneath the surface, or, in other words, to or slightly below the depth of the sound-groove to be formed therein. The proportion of conducting material employed may be varied according to circumstances, depending upon the character of the ingredients and the kind of conductor employed. The recording ma- 5 terial is now shaped into tablets or disks for use. Better effects are obtained by burnishing the surface of the disk before recording.

This gives the surface a beautiful smooth polish and spreads out the particles of graphite (or other conductor) over the recording-surface so as to produce a perfect conductingsurface.

In using the herein-claimed sound-recording tablet in accordance with the process of my said divisional application said tablet is placed upon a suitable sound-recording machine, and the sound-record is made in or upon the surface of the tablet. The grooves are made once for all of full depth and size and require no deepening or enlarging by an etchingfluid or otherwise. The record-groove may be either of the vertically-undulated graphophone) type or of the laterally-undulated (gramophone) type. This finished original record is placed in an electric bath, While a coating or plate of metal, as copper, is deposited thereon by electrolysis. The electroplate and the original are then separated, and the latter may be used repeatedly in the same manner. The electroplate matrix contains a faithful counterpart in reverse of the irregularities constituting the original record of sound. It is pressed into any suitable material that when treated is comparatively yielding (as compared with the matrix) but that is (or becomes) sufficiently hard to retain its shape and withstand reproduction and handling. Electrose and otherfibrous substances are particularly suited for this purpose.

It will be observed that by my improved process I can produce from the original record any number of matrices that may be used to multiply indestructible copies or duplicates, that I avoid the aberrations due to the etching process and the bl'urrings caused by depositing a conductor upon a record already formed, and that the matrices produced by this improved method are absolutely faithful counterparts of the original and the commercial records for that reason better.

In the drawings annexed hereto to illustrate this invention, Figure 1 shows a recordingtablet A, being a wax-like mixture impregnated with a conducting medium. Fig. 2 shows tabletA being burnished, as by a brush B, the tablet being on a rotating wheel Z). Fig.3 shows the tablet afterhaving the so undrecord cut thereon as suspended in the electroplating-bath C. Fig. 4 shows the electroplate-die D being pressed into a disk E of fibrous material, and Fig. 5 shows the completed commercial record E.

Having thus described my invention, I claim 1. Asound-recordingtabletmadeofamaterial electrically conductive throughout its bulk or body and of such normal consistency as to be acted upon by a recording-stylus actuated by sound-waves in the act of forming a sound'record.

2. A sound-recording tablet composed of a material electrically conductive throughout its bulk or body, of such normal consistency as to be acted upon by a recording-stylus actuated by sound-waves in the act of forming a sound-record, and having its surface burnished.

3. A sound-recording tablet made of wax or wax-like material impregnated throughout its bulk or body With an electrically-conducting material and of such normal consistency as to be acted upon by a recording-stylus actuated by sound-waves in the act of forming a sound-record.

4. A sound-recording tablet made of wax or wax-like material impregnated throughout its bulk or body with an electrically-conducting material in a finely-divided state and of such normal consistency as to be acted upon by a recording-stylus actuated by soundwaves in the act of forming a sound-record.

5. A sound-recording tablet composed of wax or wax like material impregnated throughout its bulk or body with graphite, and of such normal consistency as to be acted upon bya recording-stylus actuated by soundwaves in the act of forming a sound-record.

6. A tablet for receiving a record of sound, consisting of a non-conductive substance impregnated with a conducting substance the mixture being of such normal consistency as to enable a sound-record to be formed therein by a recording-stylus actuated by sound- Waves.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOSEPH W. JONES. lVitnesses:

O. A. L. MAssIE, ELISIIA K. CAMP. 

